Former prime minister’s son Alex Turnbull reveals contact with Chinese agents

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex has revealed he was the target of suspected Chinese agents.

EXCLUSIVE

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex has revealed he was the target of suspected Chinese agents over an infrastructure project, revealing he immediately rejected the approach and reported it to spy agencies.

Mr Turnbull has told news.com.au that while he did not definitively know if he was the family member ASIO chief Mike Burgess was referring to in his speech, his experience fits the sting outlined by the spy agency boss.

Describing the approach as “brazen”, the activist and investor said he was contacted around 2017 when his father was Prime Minister, and he was offered equity in a company.

“It was just so brazen,” Mr Turnbull told news.com.au. “My reaction was to express no interest and forward the details immediately to the authorities.”

Mr Turnbull said he was told that the group that approached him had links to a former NSW Labor state MP.

He said as an investor he was often approached while his father served as Prime Minister, and he was acutely aware of the potential issues and reported all suspicious contacts to Australia’s intelligence services.

He warned that the approaches from overseas business players were “constant”.

“Families need to have a contact to report these approaches to,’’ he said.

Alex Turnbull, son of Australia's former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: Supplied

Malcolm Turnbull.

The boss of Australia’s domestic intelligence organisation revealed this week an alleged plot from “several years ago”.

“The spies pose as consultants, headhunters, local government officials, academics and think tank researchers, claiming to be from fictional companies such as Data 31,” Mr Burgess said.

“Most commonly, they offer their targets consulting opportunities, promising to pay thousands of dollars for reports on Australian trade, politics, economics, foreign policy, defence and security.”

Mr Burgess has described how the group successfully cultivated and recruited a former, but unnamed, Australian politician.

“This politician sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests of the foreign regime,’’ he said.

“At one point, the former politician even proposed bringing a prime minister’s family member into the spies’ orbit. Fortunately that plot did not go ahead but other schemes did.

“Of course, we stopped it where we could given the means we had and that’s our lot, now we’re in a much better place with foreign interference laws.”

It comes after ASIO chief Mike Burgess (above) revealed Chinese spies had recruited a former anonymous politician, who then proposed bringing a PM’s “family members into the spies orbit”. Picture: Mick Tskikas

Joe Hockey, the former treasurer and former ambassador to the United States, said it was unfair not to name the person because it smeared others . Picture: Gary Ramage

Defence Minister Richard Marles defended the decision not to name the retired politician. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

But a furious Joe Hockey, the former treasurer and former ambassador to the United States, said it was unfair not to name the person because it smeared others.

“For a start, the former politician is a traitor. It wasn’t an allegation by the head of our intelligence agency, it was a statement of fact,” Mr Hockey told ABC Radio National.

“It is absolutely inconceivable that you would have a former politician representing their community, representing the country, who then goes and engages with a foreign adversary, and somehow they’re allowed to walk off into the sunset without having their name or their reputation revealed.

“It makes us all question as representatives in the parliament who we can trust, who of our current and former colleagues can we trust? And that’s ridiculous.”

Defence Minister Richard Marles defended the decision not to name the retired politician.

“I respect what ASIO have done here in terms of putting this story into the public domain but also maintaining the confidentiality of the facts around this, and there could be a whole lot of reasons why that should happen,” he said.

“We’ve got among the best agencies in the world dealing with this, the specific facts which underlie this scenario for good reason are not in the public domain.”